Cockpit conversation indicates control tower gave first alert

Associated Press

Published Friday, September 01, 2000

PARIS -- The first word that something had gone terribly wrong with the Concorde came from the control tower when the plane was in the air, according to a preliminary report made public Thursday by investigators probing the fiery crash.

"Concorde zero ... 4590, You have flames. You have flames behind you,'' the control tower said.

It was 4:43 p.m. on July 25. Air France flight 4590, a sleek supersonic Concorde, had just lifted its needle nose toward the heavens after roaring down the runway at breathtaking speed.

Seven seconds after the message from the control tower at Charles de Gaulle airport, the chief navigator confirmed, "Breakdown eng... breakdown engine two.''

"Cut engine two,'' he said, four seconds later.

The aircraft tried to gain speed for an emergency landing. But pilot Christian Marty could be heard saying: "Too late.''

The chilling seconds -- during which a jaunt to America by a group of German tourists was transformed into a tragedy -- were resurrected in five minutes of cockpit conversation posted on the Internet on Thursday. They were part of a highly technical 75-page preliminary report by France's Accident and Inquiry Office, the investigators probing the crash.

All 109 passengers and crew died when the Concorde, spewing flames, dove into a hotel near the airport. Four people were killed on the ground.

It was the first crash in the Concorde's 24 years of commercial flying history. The Concorde's airworthiness certification was withdrawn by France and Britain -- the only countries which operate the 12 remaining planes -- in early August.

The Accident and Inquiry Office has said it believes a tire blowout was at the origin of a "catastrophic chain of events'' that sent the Concorde plummeting to the ground, its left wing afire.

However, the cockpit conversation indicates that it was the control tower which first alerted the crew to real trouble. There was no indication from the recordings that the crew was aware a tire had been gashed.